GFF Chickens

Diet

Chickens at the Genuine Faux Farm are pasture raised during the day and they roost in the barn at night. Birds are given a base diet mixed by a local producer (Frantzen Farms) who has organic certification. Their diet is supplemented by foraging and organic produce that is no longer fit for sale or distribution. We do not hatch our own chicks, we are a 'finishing' operation only at this point. Chicks are purchased through the Freedom Rangers .

What it means to be Free Range (for us)

We do not keep our birds in a 'chicken tractor' during the day. They are out in a pasture with fenced borders to keep them out of our gardens and to slow down potential predators. Our meat birds are in a 'rotated' pasture that is bordered by an electric fence to keep predators out. We move the birds to a new pasture periodically to maintain the quality of the grass/clover crop for their benefit. The laying hens are located in a permanent pasture that has some orchard trees. In each case, the birds go into a shelter at night.

Chicks are an exception. To keep them warm and safe, they reside in a wooden, boxed in area with heat lamps. As they grow, we increase their space until they have some 'real' feathers. Then, they are free range.

Laying Flock

The chickens (especially the ladies - laying hens) appreciate the shredded paper that we often use for bedding. If you are interested in seeing what they do in their spare time, please read this report by the Sudsbury Six in our October 2007 newsletter. If you are interested in the perspectives of our barnyard manager Bob R Ooster, please read his article in our September 2007 edition.

Meat Birds

Our meat birds are a breed that is maintained by Freedom Rangers and we generally raise a mixture of Bronze, Grey and Red Rangers. These birds grow slower than the Cornish Cross variety that other producers favor, but we've found the taste to be markedly better. We are also impressed with their ability to handle themselves outdoors versus the relatively sedentary attitude of the Cornish Cross. These birds take much more advantage of the pasture given to them. NOTE: The small business that provided us with Freedom Rangers has gone out of business. We were able to acquire 120 of this breed for the first batch in 2008. We are researching new options.

Preparing Our Meat Birds

Chickens raised at the farm are leaner than those raised in confinement. If you purchase a 4 pound chicken from us, you will typically find a higher ratio of the weight is useful meat. Our processed birds are not injected with a saline solution. Because they are leaner and do not have this brine included, we recommend that you cook your birds at a slightly lower temperature for a longer period of time to maintain a tender and moist texture.

Purchasing Chickens:

Our birds are sold directly to the consumer and are first come, first served. If you wish to reserve a bird with us, please contact us via email or in writing. Do not asssume you have a reserved bird unless you receive a reply from us! At this time, we do not ask that you place a deposit with us to reserve the birds. But, we do ask that you work with us to take possession of the bird soon after processing. We ask that you pay at the point of delivery. We also ask that you honor your commitment with us so we can continue to take reservations without deposits.

Most of our chickens are processed as whole chickens. We also process younger,smaller chickens. Weight is typically between 3.5lb and 5 lbs. If you wish to have a chicken cut up into frying pieces, we can include this in our order to the processor. Price is usually $1 more than a whole chicken.

We sell our birds locally - which we are defining as (roughly) a 50 mile radius of our home. This includes areas such as Waterloo, Cedar Falls, Waverly, Sumner, Oelwein, New Hampton, etc. If you live outside this radius we won't say no if you see us at a farmers' market and we have chickens available. But, we also encourage you to find a way to locate and encourage a grower that is local to you.

Purchasing Eggs

We have a small flock of laying hens and we do sell the eggs privately to individuals. We encourage people to prepay for a minimum of 5 dozen eggs, to be picked up on a one week, two week or three week cycle. Cost is $3.00 a dozen when you prepay for 5 or more dozen eggs at a time. Persons who enter this contract do so with the understanding that we cannot MAKE our chickens lay eggs on demand. We will distribute eggs as they are produced and we will responsibly accept contracts so that participants will rarely be asked to wait an additional week for eggs.

We respectfully decline deliveries to persons outside of Tripoli and Waverly at this time. If you are willing to come to the farm or meet us in a location that is convenient for us, we will consider entering an egg contract with you.

If we have extra eggs beyond our contracts, we will sell 'on demand' for $3.50/dozen.

Interested in eggs? Please contact us.

Chickens 2008

Interested in chickens in 2008? Email us to reserve them.

* Note: Prices are scheduled to increase in 2008. Our feed costs, processing costs, chick costs and transportation costs have increased and we will adjust accordingly.

Chickens 2007

Chickens 2006

Chickens 2005